Maria Grateful For Tough Love From Early Coaches
Each and every morning Nick Bollettieri is up at dawn to hit the courts at his legendary tennis academy in Bradenton, Florida. He has been doing this routine for over 30 years, and despite entering his eighth decade last year his passion for the game shows no sign of fading.
And why would it? To date, Bollettieri has played a role in the tennis education of eight Grand Slam champions and six players to have held the WTA's No.1 ranking, including Serena and Venus Williams, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova.
In fact, such is his success rate, that even after graduating tennis' equivalent to finishing school, some former students come back for more. Like Sharapova, who returned to her alma mater to add the final touches to preparation for the 2012 season.
Sharapova, whose professional relationship with Bollettieri goes back 15 years, believes her time under his tutelage laid crucial foundations for her career.
"The greatest thing I personally got out of the academy was the fact that there were so many kids and every single afternoon I knew I had a match to play," Sharapova said. "And no matter if they beat me easy or I beat them or they were older or younger, it was the greatest asset I could have.
"Because if you look at other academies, they're pretty small and more individual, but at the age of when I went there, that was the most critical thing for me. That's when I developed my skills of how to play a match and how to set up points and set up certain situations in a match."
However, Sharapova admits that while the academy may have provided her with many of the skills and experiences that have helped her win three majors and millions of dollars in prize money, it wasn't always easy, particularly under one of her earliest coaches, Robert Lansdorp.
"I just remember our first conversation," Sharapova said of her frosty first meeting with Lansdorp. "When I came on the court, he looked dead. He was motionless out there.
"I stepped on the service line to hit the first ball and he looked at me shaking his head and he's like, 'Oh, don't tell me you're one of those that warms up from the service line. Don't ever do that again on my court.'"
Yet Sharapova believes Lansdorp's tough love taught her valuable lessons on and off court, as well as toughening her up for life on tour.
"Besides all those [negative] things, I believed that he could help me, so I don't regret a minute of it. As tough as it was and as brutal as sometimes he was, he was probably the most honest guy in terms of just reality and being realistic about tennis and life. Maybe over the top, but that's where I hit just thousands of balls and that's where I learned how to hit my strokes."
http://www.wtatennis.com...fCourtNews/Read/0,,12781~2666954,00.html
YURI SHARAPOV IS ALSO AN EXCELLENT TENNIS COACH FOR MARIA SHARAPOVA !!!!
